US delays appointment of EU envoy to Bosnia

The United States is holding up the appointment of a European Union Special Representative (EUSR) to Bosnia and Herzegovina because it is dissatisfied with the EU’s nominee. The foreign ministers of the EU agreed on their candidate, Valentin Inzko, Austria’s ambassador to Slovenia, on 23 February and US agreement was expected the same week. But ten days later the US still has doubts.

Cristina Gallach, spokeswoman for Javier Solana, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said: “Consultations are continuing.” Inzko is flying to Washington, DC, this week for meetings with the Americans.

US officials declined to comment on the process or on their reservations about Inzko. Stuart Jones, US deputy assistant secretary of state responsible for the Balkans, had talks with ambassadors from EU member states in Sarajevo on Monday (2 March) but would not discuss the candidates with them.

The US, Russia and Turkey have a say in the appointment because the EUSR also serves as international high representative, a post that needs approval from the Peace Implementation Council (PIC), a consortium of governments and international organisations – including the European Commission and the presidency of the EU – that oversees the Office of the High Representative (OHR).

Inzko was selected after the Russians opposed the candidacy of UK diplomat Emyr Jones Parry – seen as the most senior figure among those put forward by member states. He had agreed to be a candidate only after two other British figures had declined the nomination. An ambassador of an EU member state said that the EU had had difficulties attracting strong candidates for the job.

Daniel Serwer, vice-president of the US Institute of Peace and a former US diplomat in the Balkans, said that the US wanted a “prominent, authoritative figure” for the job. The US government seemed “unhappy with a number of the European candidates, some of whom appear competent but low profile”, he said.

Gallach said that the member states had not shifted from their consensus support for Inzko.

Marian-Jean Marinescu, a Romanian centre-right MEP who is a member of the European Parliament’s delegation for relations with the countries of south-east Europe, said: “It does not matter how important the posts were that this person had before. What matters is that the person chosen can ensure the balance in such a sensitive zone.”

The delay has forced the European Commission to provide temporary funding for the EUSR’s office in Bosnia to pay its staff, because the EUSR’s mandate expired on 28 February. The position of EUSR has been vacant since Miroslav Lajcák left Bosnia to become Slovakia’s foreign minister on 7 February. The option of agreeing a new mandate in the absence of a named envoy was rejected by the committee of member states’ ambassadors that oversees security and defence missions.

On 25 March, the steering board of the PIC will meet to consider when to phase out the OHR, which has final authority over the implementation of the 1995 Dayton peace accords. Some governments are eager to close it down in June, when its current mandate expires.

A more likely scenario is that a decision will be taken in June to close it in October. Bosnia still needs to meet a number of conditions before the OHR can hand over to a ‘reinforced’ EUSR. The future EUSR, after the closure of the OHR, would, according to current planning, head the delegation of the European Commission in Bosnia.